13. SYARIAH COURTS (CRIMINAL JURISDICTION) PRIVATE MEMBER’S BILL 2016 (RUU 355) In 2016, Member of Parliament Marang, YB Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, succeeded in proposing a motion to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) 1965 (Parent Act) at the House of Representative. It was stated that the ultimate objective of the amendment was to empower the criminal jurisdiction of the Syariah Court by increasing existing sentences as they were seen irrelevant at present. In conjunction to the matter, the Commission had undertaken a brief research on the proposed Private Member’s Bill focusing on the sentences as highlighted in section 2 of the Parent Act7. The new proposed amendments are as follows: SECTION 2 OF THE PARENT ACT NEW AMENDMENT OF SECTION 2 OF THE PROPOSED BILL 2017 Imprisonment of not less than three years Imprisonment of not less than 30 years Fine not exceeding RM 5,000 Fine not exceeding RM 100,000 Whipping, not less than six strokes Whipping, not exceeding 100 strokes The main concern of the Commission is related to the aspect of corporal punishment where it was proposed that the number of whipping be increased to 100 strokes. The Commission acknowledged that syariah strokes are different from the civil’s; however, based on human rights perspective, such punishment is considered as a form of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and not permitted under the international human rights standards. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 8, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)9, the Convention against 7 Section 2 of the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) 1965 states that Syariah Court is subject only to a maximum jail term of three years, fine not exceeding to RM 5,000 and six strokes of syariah whipping. Article 5 of the UDHR states that “no one shall be tortured or punished cruelly or treated in a degrading way”. Article 7 of the ICCPR states that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. 8 9 32 S UH A KA M A N N UA L R E P O R T 2 0 1 7